Soulless
by Sharibet
Summary: FMA Loveless Xover: Post FMA series, Alphonse Elric awakens in the Loveless universe, once again embodied. The problem? His new body isn't his...
1. The Other Side of the Gate

**Series: **Fullmetal Alchemist, Loveless (spoilers for all series episodes)  
**Pairing: **Alphonse x alt!Winry  
**Summary: **In the wake of Alphonse's self-sacrifice at the end of FMA, he awakens in the Loveless universe, once again embodied. The problem? His new body isn't his...  
**Disclaimer: **Not-for-profit fan work. No copyright infringement intended. _Loveless_ created by Kouga Yun; _Fullmetal Alchemist_ created by Hiromu Arakawa.

**A/N: **This is a story written for the FMA Faithless crossover community on LiveJournal.

Some background information (courtesy of Sockren and priestess grrrl, the mods of the FMA Faithless community): The Faithless crossover arc is the love-child of Sockren and priestess grrrl. In this universe, when Edward attempted to return Alphonse from the gate during the final acts of _Fullmetal Alchemist_, Roy intervened and they both ended up in the Gate. From the Gate, they found themselves in the world of _Loveless_ with no knowledge of whether or not the Gate had granted Al's resurrection.

On the other side of the Gate, Roy and Ed find themselves immersed in a realm of 'spell battles' where everything you have is based on how strong of a bond you can form with the person who shares your destined name. Ed and Roy, both named Faithless by destiny, are forced to redefine their relationship and alchemy as they know it in a world which uses powers that are foreign to them.

**Beta: p**riestess grrrl (thank you!)

**Chapter One: The Other Side of the Gate**

_Alphonse Elric is dreaming a strange and terrible dream._

_He sees his beloved Nii-san on the floor of an antique theater, a hole torn in his chest. Golden eyes stare sightlessly at a baroque frescoed ceiling. His hair soaks in a spreading pool of blood. _

But Nii-san can't be dead! He's still warm!

_He has to save Nii-san. It isn't right, isn't fair, that Nii-san should be the one to suffer, to die._

_Alphonse suddenly realizes what he's destined for: why he's survived, his soul bound to this empty suit of armor, when worthier men and women have died. Why else he was he chosen to become the Philosopher's Stone, carrying the concentrated lives of seven thousand soldiers of Amestris and the majority of the lost souls of Ishbal within his hollow chest? _

_He kneels over Nii-san's body. He knows what to do. What he _has_ to do. _

_Equivalent exchange. It was the law of alchemy. And the law of love. _

_As the fierce golden glow of transmutation surrounds them, Alphonse makes his wish:_ Nii-san, live and be happy. For my sake.

0 0 0 0

_Alphonse Elric is dreaming a strange and wonderful dream._

_He dreams he can feel again: the slide of smooth fabric against naked skin; a burning ache in the back of his right hand, a cool breeze against his cheeks; even a headache pounding through his temples. He dreams he can smell again: toast and gravy and something chemical he doesn't recognize._

_He dreams he feels the brush of warm lips against his forehead, a kiss surrounded by a waft of delicate perfume that reminds him of springtime, of plum blossom. _

"Kazuo, please wake up." _A girl's voice. It sounds familiar. _

"Nii-san...where?" _he whispers. _Where is my brother?_ His mouth feels dry. _

_Then it hits him: he has a mouth again._

_All around him, he hears the murmur of voices, but he's too caught up in the sheer bliss of touch and smell and taste to pay much attention. _

"...swear he said something!"

"Kazuo, can you hear me?"

"...moved just now! Is he waking up?"

_It's a wonderful dream. _

0 0 0 0

Alphonse Elric is dreaming a strange - and strangely noisy - dream.

"Kazuo! Wake up!" The scent of plum blossoms comes again. When the voice turns angry, he finally recognizes it: Winry. When did she start wearing perfume? "Kazuo, dammit. Open your eyes - I know you can!"

He wants to answer her, but everything is heavy, too heavy. His eyelids won't open. His mouth won't move.

There's a hand on his shoulder, warm and insistent through the slight roughness of fabric, and he wants to moan at the sheer pleasure of that touch. How many hours had he spent these past few years, trying to recall exactly how his mother's arms felt when they hugged him, how an apple tasted, what new-mown hay smelled like, or how Den's fur felt under his hand when he scratched the dog's ears?

"Katashiki-san, can you hear me?" a woman's voice asked urgently.

"Kazuo-kun!" A man's voice this time.

Alphonse doesn't want to wake up just yet, doesn't want to return to the prison of his armor, cut off from everything except sight and sound and pressure.

But despite the insistent voices, the sensations of touch, of smell, don't seem to be fading away. He can still feel fabric - clothing - against his skin, and a mattress pressing against his back, his shoulders, his buttocks.

Alphonse smiles. Maybe, at some point in this dream, he'll remember exactly how a ripe apple tastes, how the smooth peel feels against his lips just before biting in, recall the crunch between his teeth and the burst of juice releasing onto his tongue.

He opens his eyes and realizes that this isn't a dream.

0 0 0 0

Alphonse squinted a little in the wash of bright light and realized that he was in a hospital room.

Even through blurry eyes, it looked somewhat different from the hospitals he knew - there was more machinery, for one thing, all of it equipped with blinking lights and most of it beeping or humming - but it was definitely a hospital. He had spent enough time in them, waiting for the doctors to bandage up his brother after one misadventure or another, to recognize one when he saw it.

His hand still hurt. And so did his head. And he could still feel all of the sensations from his dream.

Slowly, not daring to hope, he concentrated on focusing his eyes, and raised his hand.

It was real. He had a _real_ hand again, not just an empty leather gauntlet sewn with armor plate. It was flesh, pale and long-fingered, a dark bruise on the back surrounding an IV needle. He wriggled his fingers experimentally, and it hurt, but it was a good hurt.

And it wasn't just the hand. There was an entire body stretched out under the pale blue blanket and white sheets of his hospital bed.

Alphonse wasn't sure if he wanted to cry or laugh. He had a body again! How had Nii-san managed it?

"Kazuo?"

With an effort, he focused his gaze on the three people standing around his bedside.

His heart gave an odd jump as he recognized the girl standing nearest to his head. She looked older than he remembered, her hair hanging loose around her face, and was she actually wearing makeup? Her right arm was encased in a cast from the palm of her hand to her bicep.

"Winry." His throat felt raw, scraped on the inside. "Where's Nii-san?"

She looked startled at his hoarse whisper, her blue eyes going wide.

Before Winry could reply, a woman dressed in a doctor's white coat bent over him. In swift succession, she shone a light in his eyes, took his pulse, pressed the cold circle of a stethoscope to his chest, and tapped his knees, elbows, and ankles in turn, making them twitch.

He lay there unresisting as she pulled back the blanket, letting the onslaught of sensation flow over him. God, he loved being touched again. _Loved _it. Even if it was just the coolly professional tap of a small rubber hammer against his kneecap.

Apparently satisfied, the doctor straightened up. Raising a hand to forestall Winry's attempts to ask questions, the doctor peered down at Alphonse. She had dark reddish-brown hair, friendly brown eyes, and pierced ears. Two diamonds glittered in her lobes as she moved.

"Can you tell me your name?" she asked.

Alphonse swallowed, trying to force more than a whisper. "Alphonse. Alphonse Elric."

The doctor frowned. "I see. How old are you?"

"Fifteen. Nearly sixteen," he amended hastily.

Winry gasped, and pressed a hand to her mouth when the doctor glared sternly at her.

"Do you remember how you ended up in the hospital?" the doctor asked, gently.

Alphonse shook his head, minutely. Something must be very wrong. Winry looked like she was about to cry.

"Tell me what you do remember."

Alphonse thought for a long minute, trying to separate dreams from real memories. "There was a city, underground. I was in a theater, or maybe a ballroom. This woman - these people - wanted me to do... something, but I didn't want to. Then Nii-san came to rescue me, but he got - " _killed_ " - hurt badly. I tried to help him. And then..."

He stopped under the weight of the stares leveled on him: Winry's open horror, the doctor's veiled concern, and a third person, a handsome man with wire-rimmed spectacles and long light-brown hair, who studied Alphonse as if he were a new species of butterfly under glass.

"...and then I woke up here." Alphonse finished, uncertainly.

"Interesting. This is a form of traumatic amnesia I've never encountered before." The doctor sighed. "I think we'll need to run some more tests, perhaps an MRI."

"Amnesia?" Alphonse blinked. "But I remember everything… well, _almost_ everything."

"Do you?" The long-haired man stepped forward. "Doctor, if I may?" She nodded, and he continued. "Your name is Katashiki Kazuo. You're twenty years old, and a mechanical engineering major at Western Tokyo Polytechnic. You do _not_ have a brother."

"But--but--" _Of course I have a brother! His name is Edward Elric, and he's the youngest State Alchemist in history. He's brash and rude and has a bad temper. He's short, but he hates it when people notice. He's a genius at alchemy and an utter retard when it comes to girls. When he smiles, his whole face glows. And he gave his arm for me. I most definitely have a brother. _

The man continued, relentlessly. "You and this young lady here-" he indicated Winry, "were riding on a motorcycle five days ago when a car ran a red light and hit you. She was wearing a helmet and broke her arm when she was thrown off the bike. You, on the other hand, were not wearing a helmet -- very foolish of you, Kazuo, and I'm very disappointed." He pursed his lips and gave Alphonse a long, severe look over the top of his glasses before continuing. "You suffered severe head injuries. In fact, you were declared brain-dead shortly after being admitted. Imagine our surprise - and joy - when the EEG showed revived activity a day later."

Alphonse blinked. "Wh-what?" _I died? _Alien memories whirled madly in his brain, competing with Ed's husky laugh and his scowl when thwarted. _Cold rain and darkness. Laughing. "It's only a couple of blocks to the store, Yoko. Don't be such an old lady!" The glare of headlights --_

More disturbingly, some of his not-memories included kissing Winry, fighting her for a fair share of the bedcovers, and arguing over what kind of food to order for dinner. And then there was the memory that started with unzipping the back of her dress, and the wicked smile that she threw him over her shoulder...

His face grew instantly hot. Flailing for distraction, he asked, "What's an EEG? And who, exactly, are_ you? _"

"That's Ritsu-sensei," Winry replied. "He was our head teacher from the sixth grade until graduation at the Seven Moons Academy."

"But - but," Once again, Alphonse was flailing for coherent speech. It was all too much, and why did he keep remembering what it felt like to kiss the nape of Winry's neck, her soft hair tickling his lips? "What's going on, Winry? And where's Nii-san?"

"You really don't remember, do you?" The Winry that Alphonse had known would have been reaching for a wrench by now, determined to pound sense into his head. This Winry simply looked at him sadly. "Do you even know my name?"

_Of course I do! _Heat rising in his cheeks, he shook his head. "I'm sorry."

She raised her chin. "I'm Katashiki Yoko," she said. "Your Sacrifice. And your wife."

_Sacrifice? _Then the second thing she had said penetrated his consciousness.

"My_ wife?_" He was married? To Winry? Why was she calling herself Yoko?

_What was going on? Where was Nii-san? _

He pushed himself up to a sitting position, which made the pounding in his head escalate until it felt like a blacksmith was using his skull for an anvil.

Dark speckles swirled in his field of vision. He tried to draw breath to speak, though he had no idea what to say, and then everything went black.


	2. Embodied

**Chapter 2: Embodied**

**Series:** Fullmetal Alchemist, Loveless

**Pairing:** Alphonse x alt!Winry

**Summary:** Alphonse spends his first day in his new body, and makes some interesting discoveries…

When Alphonse regained consciousness, Winry--no, Yoko--was gone, as was the person introduced as Ritsu-sensei. Only the woman doctor--her name badge read Dr. Ikeda--was there.

He spent the next few hours subjected to a battery of medical tests, some painful, others merely bewildering, and took his first, shaky steps in snug terrycloth hospital slippers.

Most of the nurses and technicians said very little to him beyond, "Take off your clothes," or "Stand over there," but several times, Al overheard quiet comments: "...should have died," "No sign of skull fracture," and "Abnormally fast rate of healing."

All the while, he drank in the sights and sounds around him, trying to figure out what had happened to him. This place seemed very similar to Amestris, but it wasn't any country he recognized. Had the Gate sent him to the other side of the world? Or thrust him into another world entirely?

A thousand questions choked his still-raw throat, but with the fresh memory of Ritsu-sensei's open disbelief, Al asked none of them--who knew what sort of insane asylums these people had? Neither did he protest when Dr. Ikeda continued to call him 'Katashiki-san,' since no one seemed to believe that he was really Alphonse Elric.

Oddest of all were the people--mostly children and teenagers--who had cat-ears and tails. Al saw them while traversing the hospital corridors, but didn't dare ask. Were they chimeras of some kind? What if Kazuo was supposed to know? What further tests would they subject Al to if he asked the wrong questions?

Much to his relief, a quick pat-down of his head revealed that Al's new body wasn't a chimera. He found himself relieved by the discovery--it was hard enough trying to keep up the charade of being Katashiki Kazuo, without factoring animal body parts into the equation.

Al was given a respite from the bewildering parade of medical procedures around noon and escorted back to his hospital room to enjoy a lunch of soup, plain rice, breaded pork cutlets served with a sharply piquant sauce and a salad made from some kind of pickled dark-green vegetables.

It was all delicious, and he savored every mouthful, letting his tongue linger over the varied textures and flavors. Hot, crunchy, salty, tangy--funny, he hadn't remembered eating as being such a sensual experience.

He had finished his meal, and was enjoying a hot cup of what he supposed was tea, though it was pale green and tasted nothing like the astringent brown liquid he remembered, when a couple of boys in their teens entered his room.

"Kaz-senpai!" they greeted him, and Al noticed that one of the boys had ears but the other did not. They seemed to be about the same age and treated each other as equals, so perhaps chimeras were common--and accepted--in this place.

They shyly offered him an elaborate paper bouquet consisting of dozens of tiny folded birds, then pulled up chairs to his bedside, cheerily teasing each other and sharing gossip about people that Kazuo presumably knew at the Seven Moons Academy.

"I'm really glad you're okay, Kaz-senpai," the earless boy remarked during a lull in the conversation. After ten minutes of careful listening and equally careful responses, Al still didn't know either of their names. "We were afraid that Yoko-senpai was going to get you killed on that bike of hers. I've seen how she drives...oh, man! "

The other boy punched his friend in the arm. "Dude! It's not like he could say 'no.' He's her Sentouki, after all. _Totally_ whipped."

_Sentouki. Sacrifice._ Mulling over the strange terms, Alphonse nearly choked on his tea when Kazuo's memories whispered in his mind: _So Hiro finally lost his ears. Wonder who the lucky girl was? _

In a flash, Al understood what the ears meant. And why neither he nor Yoko had them. It wasn't fair, really: Alphonse was nearly sixteen, and had never even kissed a girl, much less done anything else. And now he was married, and old--older than Nii-san. And in a body that was very obviously no longer virgin.

But at least he had a body again. He was grateful for that, really he was. He just wished he'd gotten his _own_ body back, in his own world.

0 0 0 0

Alphonse finally found himself alone after supper. Dr. Ikeda, apparently pleased with whatever test results she had received, had given him permission to take a bath on his own, with the strict instructions to push the Call button if he felt even the slightest bit dizzy or if his headache returned.

He entered the private bathroom attached to his room, overjoyed to have privacy at last, and turned the taps to begin filling the deep tub. He couldn't wait to soak himself in steaming water, to feel the heat seeping into his bones.

While the water was running, he turned to the full-length mirror on the back of the door, where he spent long minutes studying his new body. He had been trying to catch glimpses of it throughout the day, but being shuffled from one medical station to the next, and ordered to breathe, bend, cough, hold still, or urinate on command, he'd rarely had had more than a few seconds to look at those body parts within his field of vision.

Ritsu-sensei had told Al that Kazuo was twenty years old, but it was one thing to hear that and another to see it reflected in the mirror.

Kazuo's face was both strange and familiar--he was still dark blond, still had a slightly-upturned nose and a wide mouth, but Kazuo's eyes were gray where Alphonse's had been hazel, and he was tall--much taller than Nii-san, and wouldn't his brother hate that when they saw each other again?

Al grinned briefly as he imagined Ed's apoplectic rage at being forced to look up at his younger brother, but the thought brought with it the anxiety about where Ed was, and what he was doing. Had Nii-san come to this place as well, or were they going to be separated forever?

_Blood-soaked clothing, a pool of dark red spreading out from underneath his brother's sprawled body..._ Kazuo's face in the mirror looked suddenly white, the eyes widening with terror, and with an effort, Al reined in his worries. He hadn't seen anything besides the hospital--who was to say that Nii-san wasn't out there, somewhere? His transmutation had worked. Al was sure of it. He would start looking for Nii-san as soon as he was released from this hospital.

Turning his attention back to his mission of self-discovery, he untied the flimsy hospital robe and let it slide off his shoulders.

He was naked underneath, and the mirror revealed he was also a lot _hairier_ than his ten-year-old self had been. Golden stubble glinted on his chin and jaw (which made him cast a nervous look at the razor and shaving cream that had been included in the hospital's toiletries package, as he had only the most general idea of what to do with them), light brown hair tufted under his arms and out of the center of his chest, and (as he had noticed earlier, during the urinate-in-a-cup test) there was more hair around his groin.

There was also an odd tattoo on his hip, a word written in graceful cursive script. He stepped closer and twisted around, trying to read backwards in the mirror.

_Soulless. _

Soulless? What did that mean? Kazuo's memories stirred and supplied him with an answer, which explained nothing. _My true name._

Al traced the letters, which felt numb and slightly raised, like scar tissue, then leaned forward, putting his face close to the mirror, and examined his eyes, his teeth, his ears. He ran his fingertips over the roughness of his jaw, and combed them through his cropped hair. He even stuck out his tongue and wiggled it at the mirror, laughing a little at himself for doing it. _It's not as though tongues really differ from person to person!_

When he tired of his face, he moved to his chest. Kazuo had the same build as Nii-san--lean but muscled. He tugged experimentally at the sparse, curling hairs over his breastbone, and gasped as the sudden pain brought tears to his eyes.

_Much_ more sensitive than the hairs on his head!

Al let his hand slide over the soft skin and muscles of his belly, then lower. His cock stirred as his palm brushed it tentatively, and he inhaled sharply as a jolt shot up his spine. Oh, that felt good!

Spurred on by Kazuo's memories, he wrapped his fingers around the rapidly-swelling organ, fascinated by the changes taking place in his new body, and caught up in the building sensations.

Al had seen Nii-san touching himself furtively on more than one occasion, and had understood, intellectually, about hormones and erections. After all, hadn't they both studied human anatomy intensively in the months leading up to failed transmutation of their mother?

But experiencing it was completely different.

He wanted more, and quickly. He tugged roughly and winced as pleasure turned to sudden pain from over-sensitized nerves.

An unexpected knock at his bathroom door startled him badly. "Kaz?"

It wasn't the nurse. He jumped, his heart pounding, and grabbed frantically for the discarded robe as the door handle turned. He had just managed to tie it around his waist when the door opened and Yoko peeked through the doorway.

"Dr. Ikeda told me you were back to normal, and I thought you might need your wife to wash your back," she said, with a grin that made Alphonse's heart pound even harder. "You worried me, yesterday."

"Wi--Yoko!" She was wearing tight-fitting jeans and a snug t-shirt today, and her hair was pulled up in a familiar ponytail. _But she's not Winry,_ he reminded himself, fiercely.

She surveyed him from head to toe, and Alphonse's skin suddenly felt hot and much too tight, as if it were clothing three sizes too small and might burst at the seams at any moment. "Glad to see me?"

Before he could reply, or even move, she was pressed against him, standing on tip-toes, her arms around his neck (the embrace made somewhat awkward by the heavy cast on her right arm), and he was floating in a cloud of plum blossom scent. Alphonse never dreamed his first kiss would take place in a hospital bathroom, but Yoko's lips against his were soft and insistent.

He made a longing sound deep in his throat and kissed her back, feeling selfish and ashamed for not protesting, because he wasn't Kazuo and he shouldn't be pretending that he was. But she was the one familiar thing in this strange place, looking and sounding so much like Winry, and she tasted _wonderful,_ like ripe summer apricots, velvety and sweet and sun-warmed.

The part of him that was still thinking rationally led him to try and twist his lower body away from her, horrified at the thought that she might realize what was going on below his waist. She chuckled as he moved, and deliberately draped herself around him, her hips pressing against his groin in a way that made him dizzy.

She felt so wonderful, soft and curvy, and her tongue was in his mouth now, and he was nearly overcome with the urge to just rub himself against her. He wanted to, wanted this more than anything he'd ever wanted, but--

"I'm so glad you woke up." Her mouth moved lower, placing kisses on his chin, his throat, his collarbone. "When I saw you in that bed, with all those tubes and needles sticking in you..."

Al panted for air, feeling as if he were the center of an immense transmutation, energies flowing through him from each point of contact. He felt completely powerful and utterly helpless at the same time.

"God, Kaz," she murmured between kisses. "I wanted to die when the doctors told me I'd lost you. I should never have let you ride with me--" Her left hand slipped under the loose robe, slid down his ribcage, and curled around his waist, pulling him even closer. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! We'll buy a second helmet. No, we'll buy a real car--we'll find the money, somehow. Thank God, thank God you woke up!"

"Yoko," Alphonse managed to choke out. He tried to step back. "There's something I have to tell you--"

Her fingers tightened around his hips. She looked up at him, a mischievous gleam in her large blue eyes. "You can tell me later. But for now--" she gave him a slow, predatory smile. "I order you to stand still."

The Soulless tattoo over Al's hip sprang to life and burned, and he suddenly and inexplicably lost all will to move.

To his consternation and shameful excitement, Yoko's fingers slid forward, making the muscles in his belly tighten and shudder at the contact, and hooked around the sash of his robe. She tugged at it, hampered by being one-handed, and Al realized what she intended.

_I'm being seduced! What should I do? _

For a moment, he was tempted to do nothing. His new body was screaming for him to obey her, to yield to what they both wanted. It would feel so good, so intense..._so wrong._

The sash slithered free, and with a gasp, Alphonse grabbed the edges of his robe and held them together. He had to make her understand! Bad enough that he seemed to have stolen her husband's body, but he couldn't deceive her like this, and allow her to continue...

"Kaaaaz," Yoko protested, with a giggle. She held up the thin sash and waved it roguishly at him. "Don't make me use this. Unless, of course, you _want_ me to tie you up? Is that it?" She stepped closer, pressing her breasts against his arm, and began to loop one end around his right wrist. Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. "I order you to--"

"Yoko-san, please." It took every ounce of willpower that Alphonse possessed to turn his head away from another one of her wonderful kisses. "Please, don't."

"What--?" To his relief, she stopped what she was doing. Frowning, she looked up at him. "Yoko-_san?_ Kaz, don't tell me that you still think you're--"

"I'm sorry," Al said hastily. He wanted to step back, to put more distance between him, but some strange spell seemed to be rooting his feet to the cold tiles of the bathroom floor. The mark over his hip was burning fiercely now. "But I really _am_ Alphonse Elric. It wouldn't be right if we--if I let you..." He stumbled to a halt.

"You're _blushing._" She tapped his cheek, and he flinched. The look on her face changed to horror. "You really believe you're not Kazuo?"

"No, Yoko-san," Alphonse replied miserably. "I'm very sorry. I have some of his memories, but I think...I think Kazuo-san is...gone." He whispered the last word.

"No." She shook her head, and Al saw tears welling in her eyes. "Kaz--no, it can't be! Dr. Ikeda told me you were going to be all right!"

Yoko turned and fled, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

Whatever spell had kept him immobile vanished abruptly.

Alphonse sat down heavily on the edge of the tub, and put his head in his hands. His body throbbed with fierce frustration, keeping time with the renewed pounding ache in his head._ I'm cursed. Nothing that Nii-san or I have ever done has turned out right. _


	3. Battle of Spells

**Chapter 3: Sentouki  
**

**Series: ** Fullmetal Alchemist, Loveless  
**Pairing: ** Alphonse x alt!Winry  
**Summary: ** Ritsu-sensei makes a return visit to the hospital, and offers Alphonse a deal he can't refuse.

Alphonse slept badly that night, racked by guilt and desire and a terrible loneliness. How many years had it been since he had voluntarily spent the night in a room without his brother in the next bed, snoring and muttering in his sleep? Al tossed and turned through the dark hours, falling asleep only to come awake again when memory stabbed at him with acid-tipped needles

_I wanted to die when the doctors told me I'd lost you... Dr. Ikeda told me you were going to be all right!_

Well, it _wasn't_ all right. It was _never_ going to be all right, not as long as he was trapped in _this_ body, in _this_ place, where strangers wore friends' faces and nothing made sense.

_...warm apricot kisses, and the feeling of Yoko's hip, pressing against his erection in just the right way..._ Al groaned, tossed off his bedcovers, and slipped his hand under the waistband of his pajamas.

For a moment he hesitated--he had discovered last night, after Yoko's abrupt departure, that doing this allowed him to lose himself in pure sensation. But he'd also discovered that the distraction wore off quickly, leaving him just as unhappy as before, and unpleasantly sticky besides.

At least he wasn't hurting anyone by touching himself. It didn't require him to pretend to be someone he wasn't. It didn't require that he... _lie_... to Yoko.

Al sighed and squeezed his cock gently as another of Kazuo's memories surfaced.

Al wasn't sure why a girl would even _want_ to put her mouth down there, but the thought was enough to make him harden quickly.

Spurred on by Kazuo's all-too-vivid recollection of Yoko's lips and tongue, Al arched into his fingers after only a few strokes and shuddered, his breathing reduced to harsh gasps as the fiery rush of orgasm moved through him. It felt as if the nerves in his spine and groin had become some complex array for obliterating his loneliness and confusion.

The transmutation proved to be short-lived, and he felt even emptier, sadder, and lonelier in the aftermath, just as he knew he would.

He shuffled into the bathroom and cleaned himself up, then stared dully into the mirror into eyes that were the wrong color and the face that was _almost_ right.

It was Kazuo's face, which Al had stolen, just as he had stolen Kazuo's memories tonight to use for his own selfish, perverted purposes.

_Nii-san, where are you? When can I go home?_ Al's eyes stung and his reflection grew blurry. _Help me, Nii-san!_

For a moment, he felt something stir in the back of his mind, the prickle of intuition that had always told him when Nii-san was in trouble or hurting. _Al? Al, where are you?_

Then the feeling was gone. It had probably just been his imagination, anyway.

Al leaned his forehead against the cold glass of the mirror and wept.

0 0 0 0

Yoko returned just after lunch, her eyes red-rimmed, as if she'd been crying, too.

"Yoko," Al said, getting to his feet, pathetically grateful to see her.

He put aside the newspaper that the nurse had given him, which was rapidly convincing him that the Gate had sent his soul to an entirely different world. _Computers... jets... nuclear testing... the Internet..._ The articles and photos were filled with references to events and things utterly alien to him. He had not been able to find a single reference to alchemy, or Amestris, or the Fuehrer, or even to faraway nations such as Xing.

"Kazuo, are you feeling... better?" The sudden blaze of hope in her face made Al hunch down, as he'd sometimes done as a seven-foot-tall suit of armor, in a vain attempt to be inconspicuous. "I spoke to Dr. Ikeda about what happened yesterday." As Al's face grew hot, she amended, hastily: "_Some_ of what happened yesterday. She wants you to stay here for another day or two, and run some more tests."

"Oh," Al said glumly.

He looked out the window at the exotic cityscape rising behind the landscaped hospital grounds, each of the buildings taller than any he'd ever seen at home, all of them covered in skins of glittering glass. He longed to get out there and explore. Since last night, the feeling that Nii-san was also somewhere in this world had been steadily waxing.

"How--how did you sleep last night?" Yoko asked, hesitantly.

Al blinked. "Not well," he admitted. "I kept thinking about... things. How about you?"

She stepped up to his shoulder, looking out the window with him. "I never sleep well when I'm away from you. It's part of our bond." Biting her lower lip and looking uncertain, she reached out with her left hand, entwining her fingers with his.

"How do you feel now?" Her voice sounded strained.

"Better," said Al, automatically. After a moment's reflection, he realized it was true. As soon as she touched him, the unsettled, anxious feelings that had possessed him since last night had simply dissipated. He felt calm now, even happy. _Whole._

"Me, too." The smudge of grease on one cheek made her look more like Winry than ever. "I'd like to try something."

"All right," Al said, cautiously. He wasn't sure he'd have the willpower to resist if she tried seducing him again.

Yoko turned and surveyed the room. She dropped his hand, and Al curled his fingers into his palm, feeling the loss of contact. "I order you to bring me that newspaper." She pointed at the paper he had been reading earlier.

"What?" Al found himself walking across the room, his legs moving seemingly on their own, the tattoo on his hip warm and tingling. The newspaper crinkled as he picked it up. "Yoko, what's going on?"

She ignored him. "Soulless," she said, in a sing-song tone. "_Soulless: deaf to pleas..._"

"_...unaffected by sentiment._" Alphonse finished, and then stared at her. Where had those words come from? "Yoko," he said, sharply. "What does this mean?"

Yoko looked up at him and gave him a smile of heartbreaking brilliance. "It means that you're still my Sentouki," she whispered.

0 0 0 0

Three days later, Alphonse was still trapped in the hospital, ready to scream with frustration.

There was so much he didn't understand about this new place, this new life. What, exactly, was a Sentouki? He knew the word meant 'Fighter,' but what, exactly, was he supposed to be fighting? Had Kazuo been a soldier-alchemist like Nii-san?

That would explain why Kazuo had so many memories of fighting what appeared to be alchemy duels with Yoko at his side. And yet, everyone looked at him as if he were speaking nonsense when he mentioned alchemy. The contradiction made his head hurt.

It did no good to ask Yoko. Her response to most of his questions was, "Dr. Ikeda said it would be best if you remember that on your own."

After the first day, with Yoko stubbornly repeating that response while looking increasingly trapped, Al gave up asking. He didn't want her to leave again. Her presence banished the awful, aching loneliness he had felt that first night, though it didn't lessen his longing to be reunited with his bother.

And Al did not want to sleep in this room all by himself. Perhaps that was childish of him, but he had been overjoyed when Yoko moved into his hospital room on the second day.

A cot had been set up for her and she had brought a suitcase and a backpack filled with books and notebooks. She left only to attend her classes, returning to study at Al's side while he read through piles of newspapers and magazines in an attempt to acquaint himself with his new world. From what Al could discern of her textbooks, Yoko appeared to be studying anatomy and physiology. Did she want to become a doctor?

Dr. Ikeda expressed hope was that Yoko's presence would help reverse what she termed 'traumatic amnesia,' but the truth was, Al just didn't feel _right_ if Yoko wasn't nearby.

Even his attachment to Nii-san hadn't been this strong, and Al knew he should be worried about this. What was going to happen once he was released from the hospital, and started his search for his brother? He couldn't expect to drag Yoko along with him, especially if he finally convinced everyone that he really _wasn't_ Kazuo.

Despite her near-constant attendance, Yoko didn't try to repeat what Alphonse had come to think of as The Bathroom Incident. She touched him, sure--held his hand, squeezed his shoulder, patted his back--but none of her gestures were anything but sisterly. Al wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed by this. He found himself craving whatever bits of affection she threw his way, though he cringed at the hopeful expression on her face whenever she thought he wasn't looking.

It was clear that she was waiting for Kazuo to return to his senses, and Alphonse felt like an imposter. He had tried to be honest with her, he told himself. It wasn't his fault if no one believed him! But logic didn't lessen his gnawing guilt.

By and far the most disturbing thing about his new body was its compulsion to obey Yoko. Each time she asked him to do something, he felt the mark over his hip burn, and his will to resist simply... disappeared.

All his life, Alphonse had been aware that people thought of him the soft-spoken, polite Elric brother. But he had never been meek or a pushover--after all, someone had to rein Ed in when he got out of control, and after Mother died, only Al and Izumi-sensei had that power.

If Al said _no_, Ed usually listened.

In return, Al tried to use his influence over his brother sparingly, preferring to rely on logic and persuasion to resolve their differences of opinion. It was only in extreme cases, when Nii-san tried to do something stupid, that Al put his foot down. Once or twice, he'd even had to punch Ed to make his point, but he hated being pushed to that point.

So, if Al could stand up to his brother at his worst, why couldn't he say 'no' to Yoko's requests? He began to wonder if the 'Soulless' tattoo wasn't some sort of array designed to tap his will.

0 0 0 0

Alphonse didn't get any answers until Ritsu-sensei returned to visit on the fourth day.

The handsome, long-haired man entered the room, carrying a manila folder and an old, leather-bound book. The book's binding was faded and scratched, but Al could still make out the gold lettering of the title: _Battle of Spells: An Introductory Handbook._

_Interesting,_ thought Al, wondering what it was about. Perhaps he had been asking the wrong questions. Maybe he should have been asking about spells rather than alchemy. It was pretty common to confuse science with magic, after all.

"Kazuo-kun!" Ritsu-sensei said as he sat down. "How are you feeling? Dr. Ikeda told me that your memories still haven't returned."

He removed his glasses to polish them, and Al saw that Ritsu was older than he first appeared, tiny lines radiating from the corners of those cold eyes and bracketing his mouth.

"I'm feeling fine, sensei," Alphonse said, politely, wondering what Kazuo's former teacher wanted. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Ritsu fiddled with his glasses some more. "I came because I'm concerned about you, young man. Yoko came to see me a few days ago--quite distraught, I may add--and wondered whether it was possible for you to serve as her Sentouki while suffering from amnesia."

"I'm not amnesiac. I'm just not Kaz--" Al began. He felt Yoko come to stand beside him and he glanced down at her. She looked very tense, so he bit off the rest of what he was going to say.

Ritsu-sensei didn't miss a beat. "Kazuo-kun, while I believe that _you_ believe that you are not longer Katashiki Kazuo, I assure you that it's simply a result of your injuries."

Al set his jaw stubbornly. He didn't want to engage in a debate with this man, not with Yoko here. What did it matter, anyway?

"Now, while I'm sympathetic to the fact that you nearly died last week, you have to realize that you're upsetting the people around you--people who care a great deal about you--with your insistence on something that can't possibly be true."

"Hm," Al said, as neutrally as he could. Polite but uncooperative was probably going to be the best way to rid himself of this visitor.

Undeterred, Ritsu handed Al the manila folder. "Here--I've brought copies of your birth certificate, your report cards, letter of admission to the university, university ID card, as well as some other relevant documents. There's also a newspaper clipping with photos of a championship match when you played for the Seven Moons tennis team. You'll recognize yourself in the top row, third from the right."

Al flipped through the paperwork as Ritsu-sensei continued talking, his soothing, logical explanations beginning to wind their way into Al's brain.

_Ah, so Kazuo's parents had died in a plane crash two years ago_, he mused as he read one of the browning clippings. _I was wondering why no one had come to visit._ He flipped through other papers, and paused at a wedding announcement, dated six months after the crash. He barely recognized Yoko as his bride under her layers of heavy white makeup, an elaborate wig, and a strange, many-layered robe with long, trailing sleeves and a wide sash.

Al found himself wanting to believe Ritsu-sensei. After all, here was proof, undeniable proof, that Katashiki Kazuo had existed.

What proof did Al have that he was actually an alchemist, that he had spent three years traveling around Amestris with his older brother in a quest for the Philosopher's Stone, that he spent those years bodiless, his soul affixed to an empty suit of armor? It was improbable, he admitted, especially given what he knew of this world.

It was tempting, and _easier_, to believe that he was really Katashiki Kazuo, university student and Sentouki, and that he was suffering from a delusion induced by a closed-head injury.

_Except...except..._

A little desperately, Alphonse grabbed the water glass from his bedside and put it on the floor. Would alchemy work in this world? Well, he wouldn't know unless he tried...

Knowledge flooded him, an array floating clear and precise in his mind's eye, and he realized that he wouldn't need a pen or chalk for this. Instead, he reached inside of himself for the energies that would activate the array, and clapped his hands to complete the transmutation circle... just like he'd seen Nii-san do a hundred times before.

There was a blinding blue-white flash, the crackle of the glass being transmuted, and then it was finished.

Yoko gasped. "What did you do?"

Al bent, picked up a tiny, perfect blown-glass bird, wings outspread as if caught at moment of launching itself into flight, and held it out to Kazuo's teacher.

"Despite what all of you want to believe, my name really _is_ Alphonse Elric," he said, triumphantly. "And I'm an alchemist. I don't know how I came to be here, in this body, but I'm not Kazuo, sorry."

Ritsu-sensei gaped for a long moment, then his expression changed to something that Al recognized: a scientist's fascinated excitement. How many times had Al seen Nii-san with that look on his face?

"Very impressive." Then the teacher looked at Yoko, and Al saw calculation flash across his face. "Kazuo-kun--or Alphonse-kun, if you prefer--I came here to suggest that you and Yoko return to Seven Moons for a refresher course in basic combat spells. I acknowledge that you seem to have gained some new abilities, but I will argue that you should at least be willing to see if a training regime and familiar surroundings will help you heal fully."

"Look," Al began. What would it take for someone to finally believe him? "I already told you--"

Yoko clutched his arm. "Please, Kazuo. Let's do it. What can it hurt?"

Al discovered it was even harder to refuse her when she _wasn't_ giving him an order.

"Whether you are truly Kazuo-kun or Alphonse-kun, surely my offer holds some merit?" Ritsu said, smoothly. He was looking at Alphonse... greedily. There was no other word for it. "If you're Kazuo, this might be a chance to rediscover yourself. If you're really Alphonse, then I'm offering you a roof over your head, a stipend as a Sentouki, and an opportunity to learn something that might complement your very impressive alchemy."

Al stifled his immediate refusal, and thought hard. He had no money, and connections in this world, other than what wearing Kazuo's body brought him. He could channel Nii-san and tell this manipulative man to fuck off, but what would it get him?

_Besides, wouldn't a school have access to that Internet thing?_ Al asked himself. From what he had read in the newspapers, it seemed like he might be able to use this Internet to search for news of Nii-san.

On the other hand, it sounded like he'd be confined to the school grounds, and he wanted the freedom to pursue leads. What if a Sentouki was the equivalent of a slave in this world? There was so much he still didn't know...

"It's a generous offer, but I'm not sure," he said, hesitantly, trying to buy some time to figure out the best course of action.

Ritsu-sensei seemed to be able to zero in on any sign of weakness, just like Colonel Mustang. "Truth is, Kazuo-kun, we need you. Your class produced two of the strongest Sentouki that Seven Moons has ever seen, of which you were one. You'd be very difficult, no, _impossible_ to replace."

"Who was the other one? The other Sentouki?" Al asked.

To his surprise, he actually got an answer. "Agatsuma Soubi." There was an odd expression--regret, perhaps, but certainly sadness--when Ritsu-sensei spoke that name. "Soubi-kun took a path that led him away from us, but we would like to salvage your talents for the Seven Moons cause, if possible. You _did_ say, a few days ago, that you had some of Kazuo's memories, yes?"

Yoko's hand tightened around Al's bicep, but she didn't speak. She didn't need to. He could feel her silent pleading through the pressure of her fingertips against his skin.

"You have nothing to lose, Kazuo-kun, Yoko-chan." Ritsu-sensei leaned forward. "We will file the paperwork requesting a leave-of-absence for medical reasons from the university for both of you, so you won't lose your places there when--if--you choose to return to your studies. We will pay your expenses for moving and storing your furniture and belongings. You'll be assigned one of the upperclassmen's suites in the academy's dormitories; probably the best arrangement for a married couple."

"Separate bedrooms, please, Sensei," Yoko said, firmly.

Ritsu-sensei raised his eyebrows. "Are you certain?"

"Yes," Al answered, in unison with Yoko.

"Very well," Ritsu said. "At least two of the suites have adjoining bedrooms and a common sitting area--I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Sensei," Yoko murmured, and Al had the sudden feeling that the deal was close to being sealed, without his consent.

And yet, when he weighed the pros and cons... _I can always find a way to leave if I don't like it._

"I'll agree to come to your academy, under two further conditions," Al said. "First of all, I want access to the Internet. Secondly, before I go anywhere, I want you to answer some questions."

Those cold eyes studied Al for a moment. Al stared back, defiantly, until Ritsu-sensei leaned back, crossing his long legs. "Very well," he said. "The academy has computers with Internet access in the library. They're available to all of our students. There's also wireless access in the dormitories. You own a laptop, I believe."

Al blinked at the unfamiliar terms, and Ritsu chuckled. "Yoko can help you with that. Now, what did you want to know?"

"Sentouki... Sacrifice... this strange tattoo on my hip. What does it all mean?"

"Ah, that's a little complicated," Ritsu said, steepling his fingers under his chin.

When Al scowled, he added hastily: "But I'll try to give you the basic facts. You and Yoko were born with certain... gifts, and you work as a team. You are both trained to engage in a combat of magic against opponents. As the Sentouki, you create and deliver the fighting spells. Yoko, as your Sacrifice, directs the course of the fight and takes any damage caused by your opponents, so that you can continue fighting. You are both bound together by your shared name--Soulless--and that name appears on both of your bodies as proof of your ties."

Al glanced at Yoko. Solemnly, she scooted far enough from his side to pull down the waist of her pants, revealing a mark identical to Al's on her left hip.

Ritsu-sensei continued: "As the Sentouki, you are compelled to obey your Sacrifice's orders. There can be no room for hesitation or debate in a battle of spells." Ritsu gave one of his charming, hollow smiles. "I know it sounds confusing, but we'll teach you all about it if you choose to return to the academy."

"Okay," said Al, not sure if all this new information actually meant that he understood any more than he had before. "One more question: who are we fighting, and why?"

The smile vanished from Ritsu's face, and Al saw Yoko stiffen. After a long moment, Ritsu said, "I believe it's for the best if you can remember the answer to that on your own, Kazuo-kun."

Something about Ritsu's expression made Alphonse wonder what was _really_ going on here. He opened his mouth to ask another question, but Ritsu forestalled him.

Standing up, he handed Al the leather-bound book. "Here's a bit of a refresher to answer other questions I'm sure you'll have. We'll send someone from Seven Moons to pick you up in a couple of hours--with Dr. Ikeda's permission, of course."


	4. Sentouki

**Chapter 4: Sentouki**

**Series: ** Fullmetal Alchemist, Loveless  
**Pairing: ** Alphonse x alt!Winry  
**Summary: ** Alphonse arrives at the Seven Moons Academy, and tries to fill Kazuo's shoes. In the process, he becomes increasingly uncomfortable with Ritsu-sensei's agenda.

Alphonse was released from the hospital an hour after Ritsu-sensei's departure. He agreed to phone Dr. Ikeda immediately if he suffered any headaches or dizzy spells, and promised to return for a follow-up appointment within the week, but he was finally free to leave the confines of his room.

The only awkward moment came as he was dressing, and the nurse delivered an armful of Kazuo's personal belongings, taken from him on the night of the accident: blue jeans, a t-shirt, a badly-abraded leather jacket, a wallet, and a package of jewelry that consisted of a wristwatch with a badly-cracked face, a small ruby stud earring that matched one that Yoko was wearing in her multiply-pierced ears...and Kazuo's wedding ring.

Al froze, staring down the circle of white-gold in his palm. He could see the character for loyalty engraved on the inside of the ring. _Put it on? Put it in my pocket? Give it to Yoko for safekeeping?_

Yoko was standing on tiptoes, his earlobe between her fingertips as she tried to put the earring in without accidentally clocking him with her cast, when she noticed him stiffen.

"What is it?" Her glance followed his. "Oh."

Al swallowed, hard. "Yoko-san, what should I--?"

She took his right hand, her eyes downcast, and slowly slipped the ring over the knuckle of his third finger. "Maybe..." Her voice cracked. "Maybe it will help you...remember."

Her last words were nearly lost in a hiccupping sob. She wiped angrily at her face with her left hand, her own wedding band catching the light, and started to turn away.

Al couldn't help himself. He reached out and pulled her close. "Yoko, I'm sorry," he whispered, angry at his own helplessness.

She turned her face into the center of his chest, and clung to him, weeping. He put his arms around her, stroking her hair, patting her back.

"I'll try to remember," he heard himself promise as the patch of shirt over his heart grew wet with her tears. Maybe it was cruel to offer her hope, but he couldn't stand to see her devastated like this.

0 0 0 0

The car sent from Seven Moons was a modest, light-blue sedan, driven by a cheerful, dark-haired man in his early thirties who introduced himself as Yoshida-sensei, one of the academy instructors.

As he climbed into the back seat, Al studied the vehicle as discreetly as he could. It was similar, yet very different from the automobiles he had known at home. From the smell, the engine used a different kind of fuel to heat the water for steam. And where were the pipes hidden? The engine compartment looked too small to hold turbines of a sufficient size to power an automobile...

_Internal-combustion engine._ For a moment, it seemed that Al could almost remember, but then Kaz's memories faded away, leaving only that cryptic term.

Al's musings were quickly distracted as they left the hospital grounds. He found himself openly gaping as they entered the city, feeling like a bug in a maze of steep ravines. All the buildings were so impossibly tall, and, unlikely as it seemed, glass seemed to be the building material of choice here, with concrete and brick taking a distant second place.

Only occasionally did Al catch glimpses of buildings that looked like the ones he knew from home--made from stone or brick and only four-to-six stories high. They looked shabby and out-of-place in this cityscape, like gnarled shrubs scattered amongst a grove of tall, straight trees.

And the traffic! Were automobiles so inexpensive--or the citizens here so wealthy--that they could afford to choke the streets with thousands of vehicles?

The buildings grew smaller and the space between them larger as Yoshida-sensei continued to drive, and from time to time, Al even saw parks, oases of grass and trees.

Finally, they left the skyscrapers behind, and found themselves in a much more modest neighborhood of apartment buildings, bookstores, and cafes.

Yoshida-sensei parked the car, and Al followed Yoko into one of the buildings, gripped by a sense of deja-vu when he entered the lobby and smelled the scents of floor polish and faded incense. He followed her up the stairs, and found himself in the tiny one-bedroom apartment that Yoko and Kazuo had shared.

Yoko stood, looking at him expectantly, as Al came to a halt and studied these strange-familiar surroundings.

A simple kitchenette with a stove and icebox filled an alcove next to the front door. The living room was furnished with a sofa that had seen better days, a glass-fronted box that Kazuo's memories identified as a _television,_ and table piled high with notebooks, papers, and a jumble of wires, instruments (_soldering iron, volt meter,_ whispered Kazuo) and other objects (..._circuit boards. Hard drive. Memory chips..._ The remaining wall space was taken up with a large, crowded bookshelf.

Al wandered over to take a closer look at the titles on the spines. Behind him, Yoko cleared her throat. "Why don't you pick what books you want to take along? I'll pack our clothing. Can you get the suitcase down from the top shelf when you have a moment?"

"In the closet, right?" Al said, without thinking, and found himself blushing at Yoko's radiant smile. _False hope._

He was getting used to the dark-iron taste of guilt in the back of his throat.

"Yes." She moved into the bedroom. "Ritsu-sensei told me not to worry about the rest. If we give him the key, he'll send movers to pack up everything else and put it in storage." She paused. "Do you want to pack your pillow?"

_Was that a trick question?_ Al considered for a long moment. "Why not?" he said. It seemed like a safe enough answer, and Yoko seemed satisfied by it.

Relieved, he returned to his perusal of the bookshelves. This side must belong to Yoko--stacks of motorcycle magazines and what looked like engine maintenance manuals shared space with thick medical textbooks. Kazuo seemed to have favored engineering, physics, and chemistry texts, with several dozen outer-space adventure novels and action-adventure comic books as leisure reading.

Al selected the volume titled _Principles of Physical Chemistry_ and opened it eagerly. His excitement quickly turned to confusion as he flipped through pages of unfamiliar terms and equations. _You're supposed to use chemicals instead of transmutation as a catalyst?_

He snapped the book shut, and put it aside for packing. Kazuo's other textbooks only added to Al's confusion. The foundations of science in this world did not seem to include alchemy, and this presented another layer to the mystery surrounding Kazuo's memories of being a Sentouki. If he hadn't used alchemy in his duels, than what had he used? Did magic really work here?

Alphonse started to look forward to his arrival at the Seven Moons Academy, and to delving into the volume Ritsu-sensei had loaned him. He wondered what price the teacher would extract for the information...despite Ritsu's façade of friendly concern, Al sensed that the other wanted something from him.

He only hoped it would be equivalent exchange, and not the sale of Al's soul.

0 0 0 0

Two hours later, as he was taping up a box of medical textbooks for Yoko, he heard a chiming song. She pulled an object that looked like a makeup compact out of her pocket, and held it to her ear.

"Hello? Oh, Yoshida-sensei, we're almost done here...we'll be down in a second...No, just a suitcase and a couple of boxes. Those will fit in the trunk, right? Okay...thanks. See you in a couple of minutes." As Yoko spoke, Al realized she must be holding a telephone handset, only smaller than he'd ever seen before, and wireless. _Amazing!_

"Car's here," she said, and went back into the bedroom. She quickly re-emerged, dragging the large red suitcase behind her.

Lifting one of the heavy boxes of books, Al followed Yoko downstairs, and around the corner to a carport, where the pale-blue sedan waited, its engine idling.

He came to a halt when Kazuo's memories recognized Yoko's motorcycle in one of the carport spaces. It was laying on a large tarp like a disemboweled corpse, its metallic innards heaped to one side.

"I can't decide what to do with it." Yoko came to stand at his shoulder. "Probably sell it for parts."

"But you love that bike," Al heard himself say.

She sighed, and leaned against him. He put his arm around her without thinking. "I was thinking--if I fixed it up again, I could get a better price for it. For the down payment on a car."

Al became aware that he was holding her in a familiar embrace, moved away hastily, trying not to see the hurt expression on Yoko's face. "It's your decision," he said.

0 0 0 0

Behind its high walls and imposing wrought-iron gate, the Seven Moons Academy looked like a university campus, with stately stone buildings set amongst beautifully-landscaped lawns and flowerbeds.

The upperclassmen's suite in the dormitory turned out to be larger than the apartment that Al and Yoko had just left, with two bedrooms and better furniture. They had just finished lugging the last of the boxes from Yoshida-sensei's automobile when a set of chimes rang in the hallway outside.

As if in conditioned response, Al's stomach growled. Loudly.

"Guess you remember what the bells mean." Yoko grinned at him. "Dinnertime!"

0 0 0 0

The dormitory dining hall, a vast chamber paneled in dark wood, was already crowded when they arrived. The din of voices, clattering silverware, and chairs squeaking against the polished floorboards quickly died away as they entered, and the diners stopped what they were doing to stare at them.

"...motorcycle accident...amnesia...here to restudy...poor Yoko..." Al saw by the rising color in Yoko's cheeks that she heard the mutters, too. He bit his lower lip, wanting to protect her, but not knowing how.

Rescue came in the form of the two boys who had visited Al in the hospital a few days ago.

"Kaz-senpai! Yoko-senpai!" A pair of voices broke the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the dining hall. Al saw them waving from the other side of the hall. "Come sit here! We saved you places!"

Belatedly, Kazuo's memories supplied names to go with the faces. The earless boy was Hiro. He was Yuki's Sacrifice, and together, they shared the name Respected.

What Kaz's memories failed to answer was why Yuki still had his ears, but Al figured it would be rude to ask.

Instead, he applied himself to wolfing down the food placed in front of him while Yoko chatted with the boys, telling them about Ritsu's re-training proposal. The food here was far better than what the hospital had served. His plate was filled with chicken and mixed vegetables served over steamed rice with a sweet-salty sauce redolent with garlic and ginger.

Good food was a good omen for his stay here, Al told himself, knowing it was silly to be superstitious.

0 0 0 0

After dinner, Yoko went back to their suite to unpack, while Al enlisted Yuki and Hiro's aid in finding the academy library and learning how to use the Internet. He had felt a little uncomfortable about the prospect of asking Yoko to help him, because doing so was bound to stir up painful emotions, and so the two boys proved to be a godsend.

Best of all, Kazuo's memories took over once they got started, and Al was quickly able to operate the library computer on his own, leaving the Respected team to their own homework.

After running a series of keyword searches, and reading through dozens of pages of search results, Al was dismayed to discover that in this world, alchemy was considered the flim-flammery of a more ignorant age, now studied only by crackpots and mystics.

Subsequent searches turned up no news of his brother, either--no mentions of anyone claiming to be Edward Elric, no buildings mysteriously destroyed, no spectacular displays of alchemy, in fact, no incidents of _any_ kind that might lead Al to believe that Ed was here, in this world.

Perhaps Nii-san was also keeping a low profile for now, Al told himself, though it seemed an unlikely strategy for his brother. But still, he had to remain hopeful. And keep searching.

0 0 0 0

The first week at Seven Moons Academy passed quickly as Al immersed himself in learning--or re-learning--the duties and skills of a Sentouki. It seemed the best way to understand his role in this strange world.

"...if, for some reason, your Sacrifice is not present or is unable to direct the battle of spells, then you as Sentouki must invoke the battle system with Auto on. This permits the Sentouki to fight alone, though we do not recommend you take this approach, as it leaves you open and vulnerable to injury and Restriction..."

As he sat in a classroom near the end of the week, listening to Ritsu-sensei's lecture in the freshman course, "Introduction to Sentouki Battle Systems," Al found himself remembering the time when he and Nii-san had studied for the State Alchemist examination.

Certainly, some of the spells he was learning seemed very similar to the symbolic equations used in alchemy. And like those weeks spent preparing for the examinations, Al's days at the Seven Moons were divided between the reading assignments given to him by Ritsu-sensei, and practicing his skills in the academy's large practice hall.

Unlike studying alchemy, though, he didn't practice alone. Yoko was always there in her role as his Sacrifice, and they frequently partnered with the upperclassmen Sentouki/Sacrifice teams for mock duels.

But as he continued to learn (and remember) spells and worked at honing his combat skills--not the hand-to-hand combat that he had always excelled at, but a rapid-fire exchange of spells that relied as much on wits as strength--Al had found himself becoming increasingly uncomfortable with Ritsu-sensei's avid interest in his alchemy.

It was not unusual for Ritsu to ask Al to stay behind after lecture ended or practice finished, and to ask Al to demonstrate the sorts of transmutation that had been Nii-san's forte: improvising weapons from the materials at hand, creating obstacles by transmutation, and building traps for the enemy.

Today was no exception. As the class bell rang, and the classroom was filled with the sounds of chatter and the freshmen slamming shut their books, Al heard Ritsu-sensei's soft voice, and his stomach clenched in dread.

"Kazuo-kun, if you would be so kind as to remain..."

That was it. He had to put a stop to this. Al slung his book bag over one shoulder, and marched up to the front of the rapidly-emptying classroom. "Ritsu-sensei, I think I know what you want to ask me," he began. "But alchemy isn't meant to be used that way, except in an emergency."

"Oh?" Ritsu-sensei's voice sounded disinterested as he gathered up his lecture notes with long-fingered hands.

Al firmly suppressed the memory of how often Ed had managed to find himself in _emergency situations,_ and continued. "Alchemists help people by using transmutation to repair and improve things. It's a force of creation, not destruction."

Izumi-sensei had taught that in the three stages of alchemy, decomposition was always followed by understanding and creation, echoing the cycles of the universe. Otherwise you ended up with an unbalanced power like Scar's, fit only for revenge and death.

"Hm." Ritsu still seemed occupied with putting his papers in order. Was he even listening?

"Using alchemy to fight isn't repairing anything, or making it better," Al finished.

"I see." Ritsu-sensei tapped together the sheaf of papers he was holding to straighten them, and peered at Al over the rim of his glasses. "Very interesting. Now, could I ask you to demonstrate once more _exactly_ how you employ the wooden floorboards and nails of the practice hall to create a spear?"

Al decided that perhaps a different approach might be needed. Kaz might have to suffer blinding headache, followed by a convenient loss of memory about how to perform a transmutation.

_Oh, Nii-san, where are you?_

0 0 0 0

That night, he dreamed of loss and destruction.

_...he's ten years old again, awakening after their attempt to bring back Mother from the dead. He moves to the sound of clanking, feeling oddly huge and numbed, and sees Nii-san sprawled on the floor, surrounded by a huge pool of blood, his arm and leg gone. He scoops Nii-san up in huge metal arms, hoping he won't crush his brother because Al can't feel anything anymore, and the blood runs everywhere, painting the gray armor reddish-brown...Nii-san, on his back, staring sightlessly up at the theater ceiling...more blood, red as the Philospher's Stone, a vast pool of blood, and Alphonse is drowning in it, and it's all his fault..._ Nii-san! You can't be dead! You're still warm...Nii-san!

Alphonse awakened himself with a shout, and sat up, panting, his heart pounding and his pajamas clammy with sweat. _It was only a dream. Just a dream._

But his mind didn't want to let go of the fear.

What if his gut feeling about Ed's proximity was mistaken, and Nii-san had remained behind? And what if Al's transmutation hadn't worked, and Nii-san was still dead?

Dead and rotting by now, in the vast grave of that underground city.

Al shuddered, and had a vivid flash of the day Kazuo received the news of the plane crash_...watching the television, seeing a smear of smoke and flame and scorched metal on a runway, the news reporter solemnly reciting the flight number and number of passengers...running to the toilet to vomit up lunch, tears running down his face and sobs battling with violent nausea as he kneels on the bathroom floor and clutches cold porcelain...Yoko's arms around him, her hands stroking his hair as she tries to comfort him...Mom! Dad!_

_Not my life! Not my memories!_ Al threw himself out of bed and scrabbled for a notepad and pen from the pile of books and papers on his bedroom floor. He drew the array for binding a soul to armor with desperate speed.

_I can't forget who I really am, can't forget Nii-san, can't let myself drown in Kazuo's thoughts, Kazuo's destiny._

He finished sketching the array and turned off the light before crawling back into bed, wearied in both body and soul. Just as he was falling asleep, he heard his bedroom door open.

"Kaz, are you all right? I heard you..."

"Just a bad dream," he mumbled, feeling better already simply by virtue of Yoko's presence in the room.

"Okay," she said, softly, and his bedroom door clicked shut.

He thought she was gone, and jumped a little when he felt her lift his blanket and slip into his narrow bed. She pressed against him, warm and soft and smelling of plum blossom.

"I know that you don't..." She stopped, and he heard her swallow. "But can I stay here, just for tonight? Please?" Her fingers skimmed blindly down the length of his arms, and curled around his hand. "I miss you, Kaz. I miss you so much."

Not trusting himself to reply, Al opened his hand, and entwined his fingers with hers, so that they lay chastely side-by-side, palm-to-palm.

_I don't belong here. I just want to go home. _

0 0 0 0

A few days later, Yoko and Alphonse were summoned to Ritsu-sensei's office after dinner.

Al followed Yoko into the book-lined room, wondering what Ritsu-sensei wanted. The teacher had been extremely displeased when Al had stopped performing transmutations on command, and had gone so far as to send Al back to the hospital for a day for further tests.

Since then, Al had applied himself conscientiously to his Sentouki studies--he was remembering more and more of Kaz's skills as the days passed, so at least Ritsu had nothing to complain of in that area.

Ritsu-sensei was sitting behind his neatly-organized desk, his long fingers steepled beneath his pointed chin. "Soulless," he greeted them. "Given the progress you've made over the past fortnight, I believe you are ready for a real mission."

Al felt Yoko grip his hand. She hadn't returned to his bed again after his nightmare the previous week, but somehow, it felt as if they had become closer. "Yes, sensei," she said.

"We need you to retrieve a rogue Sentouki/Sacrifice team. We believe that they would be a valuable addition to the Seven Moons, and it has been decided that they should join us. Convince them."

"Yes, sensei." This time, Al joined his voice to Yoko's.

Ritsu smiled. "Very good. Now, here is the information..."

0 0 0 0

The park was very quiet and filled with deep shadows at this time of night. As they walked cautiously down the path, Yoko's hand in Al's grip, Al felt something pushing against his senses.

"There's another Sentouki here," he whispered. "A strong one."

It was true. None of the students that Al had practiced against had possessed an aura this powerful.

Yoko's fingers tightened around his. "Can you see them?"

"Not yet. But the feeling's getting stronger."

They rounded a bend in the path, and came face-to-face with two figures standing under one of the park lanterns. Waiting for them.

One was tall, with dark hair and an eyepatch that obscured half of his pale face. The other was short, with long golden hair, cat-ears, and a tail. He was scowling.

Al knew them. Recognized that scowl. He knew them both!

His heart stopped with a painful twinge, then started up again, beating erratically. _Nii-san. Nii-san and the Colonel._ It had to be!

"Yoko, wait, that's my--"

"I declare a Battle of Spells," Colonel Roy Mustang's deep voice interrupted him. "Sentou system, on."

"Wait--" Al tried to say. Before he could finish, Mustang snapped his white-gloved fingers, and a great arc of flame rushed towards them.

As Al dived out of the way, yanking Yoko with him, he heard Mustang and Nii-san finalizing their battle coordination: "We are Faithless, so strong that even the pious fall."

_Shit._ What was he going to do _now?_

Yoko made the decision for them. "We accept the Battle of Spells. We are Soulless, deaf to pleas, unaffected by sentiment."

"Sentou system, on," Al said, with resignation. "System expand."

This was not how he had imagined his reunion with his brother._ Cursed. Just like always._


	5. Hope, Like Little Birds Flying

**Chapter 5: Hope, Like Little Birds Flying**

**Series: ** Fullmetal Alchemist, Loveless  
**Pairing: ** Alphonse x alt!Winry, EdxRoy  
**Summary: ** When Ritsu-sensei sends the Soulless team to recruit a rogue Sentouki/Sacrifice pair, Al finds himself forced to do battle with his brother and Colonel Mustang.

Alphonse barely managed to deflect the Faithless team's next attack.

"Colonel--wait! Please! I don't want to--" Another snap, another arc of flame shooting toward them.

"Deflect! No flame can penetrate this barrier!" Al shouted, desperately, and felt the Sentouki power surge through them. A blue curtain of shimmering power formed between him and Mustang, just an instant too late.

A blast of air, so hot that it felt icy, hit him in the face, and his nose was filled with the smell of singed hair. _There go my eyebrows, dammit._ Yoko gasped and doubled over, and he saw the shackles of Restraint forming around her wrists.

"I don't want to fight you!" Al shouted, again. "Nii-san, make him stop!"

Only their wavering profiles could be discerned through the thick shimmer of his defensive barrier, but he felt the surge of the Colonel's attacks falter, then pause.

"Who are you?" This time it was Ed's voice, husky with strong emotion. "Who sent you? Why is Winry with you?"

"My name is Yoko!" Al saw the anger on her face. "And we just want to talk to you. We're from the Seven Moons, and we want to offer you--"

"I knew it! You BASTARDS!" Ed screamed. "Trying to trick me--"

Almost simultaneously, Al heard the Colonel's deeper voice: "Barrier, tear. Let lightning rip asunder your defenses!"

"Deflect! Deflect!" Al screamed, trying frantically to weave threads of power into a new shield as brilliant white bolts of energy tore through his barrier. Yoko's arms came around his waist, dragging the burning chains of her Restraint across his skin as she clung to him.

He had to protect her, but how could he attack his brother and the Colonel?

Time slowed, and the knowledge imparted to him by the Gate flowed into his mind. A perfect array... Alphonse clapped his hands to complete the transmutation circle, and threw himself to his knees, slamming his palms on the springy lawn to direct the energy of the transmutation downwards.

With a groan, the ground beneath them heaved violently. Yoko's fingers dug into the skin over his hips as they both swayed.

"Kaz, what's going on?"

Al had just enough time to see his brother and the Colonel fall to their knees before a shielding wall formed, thick and smelling of moist earth and bruised grass. "Nii-san, it's me! I've been looking for you," he yelled over the wall. "Please listen to what I have to say!"

Faintly, Al heard the sounds of a furious, low-voiced debate on the other side of the barrier. Most of the words were indistinguishable, but occasionally Ed's voice rose high enough for Al to hear: "...back off, damn it!"

"...trying to trick us... Seven Moons..." _Oh dear. Is the Colonel actually trying to out-shout Nii-san?_ That didn't seem much like the sardonic, perfectly self-possessed man of Al's memories. Then he heard the Colonel say something that made Al's stomach congeal. "...doesn't even look like your brother... too old... get hold of yourself, Fullmetal!"

The earthen barrier exploded inwards as thick spikes rapidly sprouted from the ground, followed by another blast of flame. "You bastard--trying to pretend you're my brother! You can tell the Seven Moons to just FUCK OFF!"

"Deflect! Clouds gather. Rain, torrential rain, extinguishes flame." Even as he countered with another Sentouki spell, Al could see the next array he needed to use.

_Clap. Slam._ A shockwave moved outward from his palms, crushing the spikes.

Al staggered to his feet, trying to drag cool air into his burning lungs. His legs were shaking. It was exhausting, trying to fight on two fronts at once, to use both battle spells and alchemy. And the Colonel had Nii-san actively fighting on his side... the dual attacks felt like a gut-punch to Alphonse.

But worse, far worse, was the realization that his own brother didn't even recognize him.

He became aware that Yoko was screaming at him, her fingers hooked into his shirt as the Restraints around her wrists--one of them buckled tightly over her cast--tried to drag her down. Her face was smudged with soot, and Al wondered if he looked any better.

"Kaz, what the hell are you doing?"

He looked down at her. "That Sacrifice--it's my brother! I don't want to hurt him."

"And what about me?" She looked scared, perspiration beading on her top lip. "Kaz, they don't want to talk to us. You have to fight them, or we'll be killed. That fire attack..."

"But--" In his heart, Al recognized the truth of her words, but he wanted to rail against that, to convince himself that somehow he could make Nii-san understand what had happened to him, and why he didn't look like the fifteen-year-old boy that Ed expected.

"Oh, Kaz." Yoko raised her arms despite the weight of the chains, and put her hands on his shoulders. She stood on tiptoes, and kissed him softly on the mouth. At the touch of her lips, Al felt renewed energy flow into his exhausted body. His knees stopped feeling shaky. "Fight, Kaz," she murmured. "Fight for us... I order you to fight."

Unable to disobey, Al took her hand in his, and raised his voice to address his brother and Colonel. "I bind you. By chains of ice, you are immobilized. You cannot move!"

Long, silvery tendrils materialized around his opponents, pinning their arms by their sides. It was the only attack Al could think of that would keep Nii-san from being able to clap his hands, and yet not injure either of them.

The contradiction was tearing him apart--he wanted to protect Yoko, and couldn't disobey her, but neither did he want to inflict the agony of Restraint on his Nii-san.

Unfortunately, the Colonel could still snap his gloved fingers. "Fire melts ice, you bastards," Ed shouted, grinning maniacally as the tendrils dissolved in a wash of brilliant yellow flames.

Now it was Nii-san's turn to clap his hands and slam them on the ground.

A shroud of dirt flowed upwards, faster than Al could react, and he found himself held captive in an unyielding embrace of hardened clay from the soles of his feet to his elbows, with a thick seal of clay over his mouth. He couldn't move; he couldn't speak.

He saw Colonel Mustang, his face strained, raise his gloved hand, fingers poised to snap.

_Can't protect Yoko. Can't even beg for my life._

"No!" Yoko threw herself across Al's body, her arms outstretched. She turned to look at the Colonel, her expression desperate, pleading. "Please don't hurt Kazuo. You've already won."

Al saw the moment when the Colonel froze, the strain on his face morphing into white-faced terror, and was reminded of the Colonel's combat alchemy duel with Nii-san. His fingers trembled, and that normally-cool gaze grew wide, staring.

Yoko didn't hesitate, taking advantage of Mustang's hesitation to rip the gag from Al's mouth.

Then she began to attack the clay encasing the rest of his body, her fingers scrabbling at the edges, crumbling away tiny chunks.

This was Al's last chance to plead his case. "Nii-san, Colonel Mustang. I know I don't look the same, but I'm really Alphonse Elric. The Gate sent me here, and put me into--into this body."

The Colonel was still standing frozen, his gaze fixed on some invisible horror somewhere over Al's left shoulder.

Yoko stopped trying to peel off the clay imprisoning Al, and stood there, listening.

Nii-san stepped forward, touching the Colonel lightly on the arm, and Al saw the gleam of automail in the gap between his shirt-sleeve and his glove. "Prove it," he said, hoarsely. "Prove that you're really Al."

Al's mind raced. What could he say to his brother? "Remember when Mr. Scar destroyed your automail and my armor? You tried to get him to spare me by offering yourself. I punched you for that. It was raining, raining really hard, and I was so angry that you thought I'd be happy to live when you died."

Ed's mouth turned down in his familiar scowl, and Al plunged on. "You hate milk, but you like ice cream and Auntie Pinako's stew with milk. You wouldn't let me keep the kitten I found after you lost the duel with Colonel Mustang, because you said that our quest didn't allow us to care for anyone or anything but ourselves. Sensei beat us both up when she found out about us trying to bring Mother back. You--you killed the homunculus that looked like Mother by changing the water in her body to alcohol. She just... evaporated." Al shuddered at the memory. "The last time I saw you, Nii-san, you were lying on the floor of that underground theater. Envy... he'd hurt you, Nii-san. Hurt you really badly. You were--"

The scowl was dissolving now, into incredulity...and joy. "Alphonse? It's really you? Alphonse!"

Ed stepped forward, his arms outstretched. Only to be yanked back into the Colonel's embrace. "Don't, Fullmetal. Don't trust them!"

"Roy, I order you--mmmph!" Despite Nii-san's impressive struggles to free himself, the Colonel managed to clap one hand over his mouth.

Al found himself pinned by the Colonel's single cold black eye. When had he gotten the eyepatch? Then the Colonel spoke, ripples of power vibrating through every word of the spell: "Withdrawal...you want to separate/Transported like two little birds/To where you can sleep."

Waves of immense fatigue washed over Al. He craned his neck and looked down at Yoko. She was slumped bonelessly against him, her blonde ponytail tickling his neck.

He tried to think of a counter-spell, but the words wouldn't come. He yawned... floating... falling... sinking gently down into a warm darkness.

_Nii-san!_

0 0 0 0

The tall boy and the girl who looked like Winry's twin sister vanished in a flutter of black wings, sent Ishbala-only-knew-where by the spell that Soubi had taught Roy a few weeks ago.

Feeling decades older than his thirty-two years, Roy released his hold on the frantically-struggling Edward.

Predictably, his Sacrifice rounded on him the minute his feet touched ground again. "What did you do? That was Al! It really was my little brother! Maybe that guy didn't look much like him but it was!"

Were those _tears_ flowing down Fullmetal's cheeks?

"You don't know that. Seven Moons knows a lot about us... and they've tried dirty tricks before." Roy struggled to keep his voice calm in the face of his Sacrifice's distress, when every instinct screamed for him to take Ed in his arms, to promise him anything, just to make that devastated expression vanish. "I didn't hurt them," he added. "I just sent them...away."

"Away? Away, where?" Ed yelled, wiping violently at his eyes, flinging his tears to the ground like weapons.

"I don't know," Roy admitted. "Soubi said that spell would knock out your opponents and send them back to where they came from. They'll wake up in an hour or two, and find themselves back... home, I suppose."

"Oh." Was that relief on Fullmetal's face? At least he'd stopped crying. Roy hated it when Edward's tough façade crumbled and he was reduced to a boy's helpless tears. When that happened, it meant that things were not only bad, they were hopeless. Roy _despised_ hopeless--it reeked of death and failure. And he'd seen too much of both those things in his career as a military officer.

"He's not dead. He's not trapped in the Gate any more," Ed continued, slowly. He gave Roy a watery smile. "He has a body again. And did you see how tall he was? Taller than me, damn it! And what the hell happened to his ears? And Winry was with him. How did she end up here? And why did she call him Kaz? And why--"

Roy blinked at the flood of questions, and tried to force his tired brain to think.

Unlike Ed, who was apparently still overflowing with energy in the aftermath of the spell battle, Roy felt drained. Really, he just wanted a stiff drink, a hot bath, and a nap, not necessarily in that order. But instead, he was presented with the puzzle of a young man who claimed to be Alphonse Elric, and who apparently knew things that only Al would know.

Ed did have one point in his favor when arguing that they had just fought against Al: no other Sentouki they had encountered since the Gate dumped them here had been able to use alchemy. So, he had to assume the tall boy hadn't been lying, and that Al's soul had been released from its armor and bound into a new body. The Seven Moons had apparently gotten to him, and... what? What did they want? Why were they so interested in Ed and Ritsuka?

"If that was really your brother," Roy said, when Ed's torrent of questions had dried to a trickle, "then we can find him. We know now that he's with the Seven Moons, and that his Sentouki name is Soulless. Soubi might be able to help us track him down. What was the other name that the girl called him? Kazuo? We should ask Soubi about that, too."

"Betcha that bastard won't tell us anything useful." Ed gave a short chuckle. Then he grinned up at Roy. "He's alive, and embodied. Al is alive... and _here._"

"Maybe," Roy said, reluctantly.

But Ed didn't want to hear it. "I have new orders for you, Roy."

Roy sighed. "Let me guess. You want me to find Soulless. And devise a plan to get him out of Seven Moons' clutches."

Ed's grin turned downright wicked. "Looks like you're finally getting the hang of the whole 'you have to obey my orders' thing."

0 0 0 0

Alphonse awoke first, to find himself sprawled on the dusty-smelling carpet of their suite back at the Seven Moons Academy.

There was a heavy weight across his stomach. After a bit of effort, every muscle in his body screaming with pain, Al managed to prop himself up on his elbows and look down.

Yoko was still unconscious, her head resting on his midsection like a pillow. He shook her shoulder, gently. "Wake up."

"Nnngh--no. Just a little longer..." she mumbled, turning to bury her face in his shirt. Then her eyes opened, and she pushed herself up, looking every bit as stiff and sore as Al felt. "Are we back home?"

"Yeah." Al climbed slowly to his feet, and reached down to offer Yoko a hand.

"He called you Alphonse," Yoko said, letting him pull her to her feet. Her jeans were covered with blotches of mud and grass stains, and Alphonse didn't think his pants had fared any better. "That short boy with the blonde hair."

"Nii-san hates being called short," Al answered automatically, and stopped as it sank in. Edward was really here. He wasn't dead...

"What are you going to do?" Yoko asked, apprehensively. "Now that you've found your brother?"

Al found himself unable to answer. He wanted to see his brother again, but the thought of being separated from Yoko made him feel as if he were being torn in two. How could he leave her behind?

"Alphonse," Yoko said, quietly, and Al started. It was the first time she had called him by his real name. "Will you take me along when you leave here?"

"What?"

"You _are_ leaving, aren't you?" Her face was sad, but her hand slipped into his.

"I can't stay here," Al whispered. "But I don't think I can leave you." _You're bound by your shared name,_ whispered Ritsu-sensei's voice in his head.

"Then don't," she said, matter-of-factly. "There's nothing keeping us here, except for Ritsu-sensei's wishes, and he isn't our teacher any more. I'll come with you if you'll have me, and help you look for your brother."

Al put his arms around her, gratitude and confusion warring in his chest, and held her for a long time, resting his cheek on her hair, and breathing in the scent of plum blossom.

"Are you sure that's what you really want?" he asked, finally. "I need to be with my brother, and I can't... I can't be Kazuo for you."

"We still share the same name. I'm still your Sacrifice," Yoko said, her voice muffled a little by his shirt. "And I know you're not Kaz--we've been living together for, what, two weeks now? And you're not him. I've been trying to deny it, but it's true." She sniffed, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I don't need you to be anyone but Alphonse, if you're still willing to be my Sentouki."

"It's a deal," said Al. "We're a team, after all. Let's go find my brother and the Colonel, and hope that they'll listen to reason this time."

The End

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